does in catalonia are pressing ahead with plans for sunday's independence referendum and ignoring threats from the government in madrid but says the breakaway vote is in the at least chiefs have discussed plans to seize control of polling booths and stop catalans from casting a vote. for fleets of u.s. navy ships packed with personnel and aid is being sent to hurrican hit puerto rico food and water supplies are running low and three million islanders are still without power a days after maria devastated this u.s. territory. two teenagers have been charged with murder over a fire at an islamic boarding school in malaysia police say the boys sought revenge after being teased by some fellow students before the blaze two weeks ago twenty one students and two teachers died the fire blocked the only exit to the dormitory and the windows were barred. buddhist monks or thrown stones at a un shelter for a hinge or refugees in these three lankan capital colombo police said to a score of the refugees to safety because government and the united nations have

condemned the attack you are right up to date with all our top stories jane will keep you company in the coming hours i will see usual time tomorrow of next inside story. women in saudi arabia finally allowed to drive from next year is lifting the ban the fine of real reform in the kingdom but it speed up for it should the powerful religious establishment this is inside.

hello i'm sam is a than welcome to the show now it's the only country in the world where women were banned from getting behind the wheel of a car but not for much longer just nine months to be exact to see the king solomon is allowing women to legally drive for the first time from next june the royal decree removes a cornerstone of saudi conservatism some credit service of voices on social media on happy rights activists are delighted that saudi women are finally being allowed to do what's entirely normal everywhere else so will the decree excel or rate existing tensions in the kingdom and is it a major step towards gender equality in a male dominated society we'll be discussing that and more in a moment with our panel but first poll chana g.m. reports. activists like dr mahdi however jewish have been lobbying for decades for the kingdom of saudi arabia to allow women to drive and instead i guess. i'm

ready my daughter is ready and who says society is ready how much longer can we live in an oppressive society that prevents us from our full rights. by next summer dr mcgee how will be allowed to drive without risking arrest fines and punishment the new policy will allow women to obtain a driver's license without having to ask permission of the husband father or male guardian the kingdom's representative to the united nations talk about the policy during a meeting at the un this is a historic day for saudi society for men and women and we can now say at last so you arabia is hoping the policy will help the economy and increased role of women in the workforce as part of the economic reform agenda and the efforts to streamline the amount of money that the state spends on its citizens with diminished oil revenue the idea of including more women into the labor force

would definitely help and so driving is is one mechanism to increase women's economic participation in almost anybody can be seen by the other activists reacted on social media mundo a shot of as a saudi women's rights advocate who was arrested for posting a video of herself driving in two thousand and eleven to protest the law in a tweet celebrating the decree she use the hash tags women to drive and daring to drive she also said the fight for equality in saudi arabia is far from over i grew up in ultra conservative society the united states also welcomed the move by the kingdom well they were happy we're happy we're certainly happy to hear that if saudi women are now able to drive certainly here in the united states we would certainly welcome that and so i think it's a great step in the right direction for that country. another step that's been lauded by rights activists. over the weekend for the first time women were allowed to enter the king fahd stadium to celebrate the eighty seventh anniversary of the

kingdom's foundation the father i know how to still and with saudi women are able to do anything they respected and have proven themselves in every field they're not so weak as to be contained to one place. the the right for women to drive may be a welcome step but some human rights organizations say the kingdom has a long way to go in guaranteeing equal rights for not only women but for minorities like those who are subjected to hate speech and violent attacks culture dirge on al-jazeera. well let's get the thoughts of our guest now joining us on the panel today is a cav senior lecturer at the university of east anglia where she teaches courses on women and film in miami in the usa we have saudi activist yes i mean saw it and in london rauf the bag of women's rights researcher at human rights watch welcome to the show everyone if i could start with yes i mean in the usa in miami so women

driving sounds like a very normal situation elsewhere in the world even elsewhere anywhere in the muslim world how much of a big step is this though specifically for saudi arabia i would definitely say that it's a very big staff and it's one of the most visible signs. you know modernization efforts by. the government today even though there have been a lot of other reforms that have been happening in the last twenty years and your man and the crown prince as well this is definitely the one that has made global headlines are rightfully so because like you said any saudi arabia is is the only country in the world where will name have until two thousand and seventeen been banned from driving so that really big deal it's a big deal i lam it's been on the table for a while now the authorities have always pushed back against attempts to try and

change the situation when it came to women being able to drive what prompted this decision now. i'm not sure if this decision was prompted at this very moment in time there might be other ideological and political reasons why it was prompted at this moment in time but why i would like to kind of consider this from an historical point of view in two thousand and eleven as the report suggested also in two thousand and thirteen i was teaching in my classes about saudi women's driving ban and they were still at the time playing videos of themselves on twitter for example to share their experience of driving as a subversive act and the images that i've seen today in relation to this particular news item was also this were also the same they were very much similar to those images i think is something that has to do with the concept of change change is something that happens very slowly but it's good that this is happening fighting against patriarchy fighting against male domination and fighting for women's rights

are things that won't change overnight they will take time and i think this is just a step forward or it's all about step forward let's go to roth now what practical difference does this make to the lives and the freedoms that women enjoy in saudi arabia rotha. sardou woman driving is a huge achievement for the women's rights activists in the country have been fighting for this more than two decades they one of the biggest issues that they've talked about is the reality that they face not being able to drive this is a country where public transportation is limited where to get anywhere around the country you do need to have to drive and of course that means that you are reliant on your male relatives or male drivers to do so now if you're well off when you are able to have that kind of access then male drivers no problem but for many women even if they are independent and have the money and the means they want to be able to go get into a car and drive just like any other man in the kingdom and for many other women who actually can't afford a driver who find it very difficult to maintain the lifestyle they have with

a driver in place that can be very difficult it can be difficult to get a job it can be difficult to maintain a job if you need to be able to pay your way to get to get to get to work on time so this has been a real impediment for those in particular in terms of access to employment but also in situations like domestic violence if you're being beaten up how do you get out the house how do you get to the police station if you need to get to the hospital you need need immediate care you will you were going to be arrested if you end up in a car trying to drive yourself there you will need to find other ways and means to be able to do that this decision would if in completely allows women with the same access as men to drive would provide a historic difference to women's lives or a year or so let me jump is does not it is not unlike that you would use that if it allows completely the same verse to drive it around to men yes i mean this still is not the nine months to go and the committee has to study the degree says how this

is implemented is it going to happen and do you think there's going to be any attempt to push back at it in the next nine months. i definitely do think that it's going to happen when a royal decree is issued of this magnitude usually and actually they've even announced it themselves that the senior scholars in saudi arabia have approved didn't have no objection with islamic law as they call it and so i think that it is going to happen i'm sure that there are going to be some pushback in certain more conservative segments of saudi society who see this. this allowance for women to drive as it moves towards greater independence for for women and saudi arabia which is something that they. would object to and so i will i definitely do anticipate some resistance from the more conservative sectors

of society but in general i think that this nine months is actually a good time to give the saudi society time to sort of digest this it's been anticipated you know. thirty forty years. they've been talking about this and. you know if they will have to organize the road is going to be you know you can imagine a lot more drivers on the road there are issues are licenses and driving schools are going to be have the comedy to the female population so i think that there are going to be there is going to be procedural a logistical bureaucratic adjustments that need to happen but i think most importantly in the next nine months there's going to need to be some education and making awareness in saudi arabia with the public that this is actually

a very good step first are a society that is really in the interest of saudi society for women to be able to drive for all the reasons that the other you mentioned some interesting terms their . public awareness education is this a country that is genuinely right now reforming and expanding the margins of freedom in general on the way about women's issues and and beyond i think there are lots of other issues that not just saudi but many countries have to face with their tackling with in terms of gender politics in terms of women's rights i do think that there has been a great progress in terms of change within saudi i know this from the perspective of films that were made for example within the country the first ever film for example was made by a woman i found mansur's film called wild show that came out in two thousand and twelve in which she kind of that picks those issues around gender segregation

driving ban and other issues including force married child brides and so on so there are lots of other issues but i think the key question that i would like to focus on is this idea of the middle east or the arab world all saudi arabia in this case. being kind of regarded or talked about or perceived as the backward kind of culture that needs to change i was really particularly kind of surprised today to see a comment from as the report suggested from the united states and one of the governmental departments said this is a great progress in terms of the right direction i think we really need to stop for a minute and this kind of think about who decides on what is right and what is wrong what those cultural values are that makes things right or wrong and avi really reinforcing by talking about saudi arabia or any part of the arab world or the middle east in that regard are we talking about them in

a really kind of backlash way that would put all reinforce those stereotypes are we recreating those with our language that we used to talk about these progressives elements the media in general has been nice not necessarily helpful in representing saudi in particularly positive ways but i think this is a big step or and. you're coming to the right place with iran's gershon about how we frame things i'm so glad you've raised that but let's put things into a broader perspective that seems to be the way we're going now with this because allowing women to drive is in line with a broader program called vision twenty thirty it's promoted by the saudi crown prince mohammed bin salomon it aims to modernize saudi society for the first time ever last week women were allowed into a sports stadium for example as part of saudi national day celebrations up to now sports arenas have been strictly men only the saudi sovereign wealth fund for

example announced a plan this month to invest in the entertainment sector public cinemas are banned in the kingdom so the leaders have confirmed plans to build more resorts and the recreation city dedicated to sports culture and then to tame and the crown prince also launched a crackdown on dissent. though social media reports say political rivals critics clerics even have fallen victim reports say at least ten scholars were detained including the popular sound man allowed hours more than fourteen million twitter followers let me take that question to you while women may be able to drive next year well you said social media reports so some pretty prominent figures are being put in jail even economists like assam azzam are for disagreeing with the country's economic reform process is the so you know let me put the question again to you is this a country that is really reforming or is this you know some cynical p.r.

move well i'll put it in a slightly different way when we talk about reform in saudi arabia we have to ask how much are they really reforming so when we talk about it for instance just talk about the driving for instance they could have said that women are allowed to drive and tomorrow women are allowed to drive as women with international rivals licenses can take to the road but instead they said they'll take thirty days to review the decision and that means they could be spending that time to come up with ways to restrict women's right to drive and by june two thousand and eighteen we'll actually see what the reality is like for that reform but in general around the country inside arabia we know that while it has always you know for the last how many decades has embraced what we consider to be modern society technology and so on so it was been very bracing of such things they have at the same time doing credibly repressive over the years we've seen prominent human rights defenders like mohammed the tiny like. many other human rights i defenders who have been arrested

who are now spending ten to fifteen years imprisonment and in the last year or so we've seen many more activist defend people on twitter expressing their peaceful opinion who have been arrested or continue to be harassed and intimidated by the authorities so while side arabia does have a vision twenty third. it does is talking about reform in the country in a variety of ways that we form package the understanding of what reform means has to be about human rights for all both men and for women and designing a package of reforms that actually see that reform country reality not ones that actually restrict the reform itself yes many of you mentioned the pushback from some conservative quarters numb wondering will this sort of moving crease the tensions within saudi society between the government and some of the conservative quarters in who i think that there is definitely some level of polarization that exists in saudi society between moderate saudis and traditional saudis and i think

it's very visible even when you are in now. or in more of the inland areas and so i do. anticipate that there will be definite tension which is why it's very important for the media to play a very important role yes i mean if you fill my life for a matter of us give us an idea well though some of those visible signs that you would see that perhaps not everyone is aware of terms of differences between riyadh the being you know on the west coast and riyadh being in the east of saudi arabia well i think generally speaking i mean obviously there are conservatives and liberals and realises well but if i were to generalize and say the cheaters is more liberal in their lifestyle in there they're just saying the compounds where the host. you know the lifestyle there are a lot more open

a lot more flexible for families and as opposed to more traditional lifestyles that we're winning cover completely including their faces and their hands and there are there's a. great greater restriction for them to be able to get scholarships and travel abroad freely or study abroad they're in they don't send their daughters the they get married earlier so there are many different lifestyle differences and there is there is very obvious polarization in the country in terms of myself so i do anticipate seeing. you know considerable resistance from the more surveyed the south side of society which is why it's really important to spend the next several months educating them on the practical implications of will be able to drive and how it will greatly benefit the economy and society as

a whole there really needs to be a very formal sense of educating the public on why these kinds of reforms are in the best interest of the nation i let me mention the minutes ago we have to be very careful about the sort of terms we use about what is the right direction how much consensus then is there within saudi society about what is the right direction for reform i mean some people would prioritize this sort of issue as being one of the top priorities you read maybe on the twitter sphere others who would say the priority for reform should really be you know allowing people to express themselves regardless of their gender on twitter allowing religious scholars or economists to express themselves without fear of imprisonment. that's true i think this is an issue about how women's issues women's rights have been historically and traditionally used not only within saudi arabia but also globally as

a rino as all spaces of political tensions if we think about for example the language that we use when we talk about the nation we always refer to it as in terms of femininity or womanhood so for example when we say mother tongue or when we say mother land we're talking about womanhood in different ways and i think within this context as well women's rights issues and women themselves are becoming sites to discuss political tensions so even though there are lots of other things going on within the country for example political prism and as we have discussed before. i think it is important to acknowledge that these are being discussed in relation to women's issues so while you are kind of putting the focus putting the camera on one topic you kind of also avoiding other things so what is being filmed what is being brought forward is as important as the things that aren't being

filmed aren't being shown so i think we need to think about that in more careful ways and i saw in the corner of my you were trying to get in on the discussion says let me give you a chance to get a moment sure i don't think this is one right versus another right we shouldn't be talking about which one should come first they're all is a whole package of human rights should be providing its citizens and that includes for instance freedom of speech as well as allowing women the whole host of rights that they are currently being denied currently they are still second class citizens in their own country so for a long time because of the fact that purchase a ban in the kingdom you can organize you can have trade unions it means it's really difficult for saudi women to organize to come up and to petition and to start n.g.o.s and so on it's actually it was has been very very difficult for women to get the kinds of achievement. they have right now because of those kind of detrimental impacts and violating their rights as a whole in terms of society but the same time by denying women their rights they're

also keeping back society as a whole so by not allowing women to drive means that they are not able to do a number of things that can contribute to society including the economy thereby also allowing and maintaining the male guardianship system which means that women cannot undertake certain things like traveling abroad or obtaining a passport without permission of their male guardian which can be their husband their father the brother or even their son means that they continue to remain dependent on their military again creating a lot of problems whether it's in work within stay reality and so on but also keeping back society as a whole in terms of furthering both economy but also in in general the social levels of the community as well and a lot of people would of course agree with that sort of perspective and so all rights need to be tackled at the same time but my question really was is that the way it's seen or how much consensus is there within saudi society yes i mean you're a saudi you're a woman you're an activist. i wonder what your thoughts are on this i mean when you

look at the top four twitter accounts for example in terms of followers in saudi arabia their accounts of religious scholars and figures mostly does it say something about sort of the direction that many if not most saudis want their country to go and do we really have an idea about what reform means to most saudis ok and i'm glad you post post that question because you see i see this as you know like the starfish story you know where you know this child was picking up a starfish learned in the waterless got him and said well what about all the thousands of other starfish is that russia for sure there were matters to this one i think the point was that that story is really relevant here is because when we talk. about you know when we mean or in this case particularly lifting of the ban for women to drive or the ability for women to travel or all the other numerous

major step reforms and happen in the last few years in saudi arabia particularly in backing women we need to sort of stop for a second and be able to applaud that and not necessarily say well one reform happened over one half the happening at that time at that place if within the same juncture yes of course all the other restrictions that are still there in saudi arabia that are imposed whether it's politically or are otherwise. needs to happen and you know over time but i don't want to also discount what has been achieved that with me right ok i'm afraid we're going to have to not not all right all right let's head there on that point then it's not all or nothing it really is in life or thanks to our guest because we are out of time yes means that . roth now begun and of course i am at

a cab thank you all for joining us you can see the show again too any time if you visit our website al-jazeera dot com for further discussion head over to our facebook page at facebook dot com ford slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. inside story from me sam is a dan and the whole theme here for now is the one you and . a new level of luxury has arrived. an experience that will transform the way we try . our impeccable service remains but now comes the breaking heat is a. revolutionary business clients. the altar for the sea

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